Encore
by Nigihayami Haruko
Summary: AU Because second chances are offered everyday, and Redemption is right where you fell. When forgiveness can only be given by She who has Forgotten, how do you make amends? Encore, live once more.


Encore  
  
The sky is the same, the clouds have not changed one bit and the throbbing of my head remained as it painfully is. But life would never be the same again.  
  
I moaned and turned my head, burying it deeper in the pillow. Why did life have to go on after a funk?  
  
RING!!!  
  
Groaning, I knew that the fates were against me. Evidently someone up there did not want to grant me the pleasure of an extra hour of self-pity in bed.  
  
Dragging myself out of bed, I walked to the door, plowing through the avalanche of mess I had created the night before.  
  
'Mental note to self: Clean up.'  
  
As I was scowling at the mess, delivering it my patented death glare in hopes that it would spontaneously com bust, the door bell rung once more. Wrenching the door open, my mouth gaped open.  
  
"What do you think you're doing here??"  
  
He rest himself against the door frame looking at me, amused.  
  
"Guess I caught you at the wrong time, eh?"  
  
Looking down, I blushed so hard I'm sure I could beat the tomatoes my neighbor planted hands down even in my half-comatose state. Gathering my wits about me, I took a deep breath, willing myself to regain the self-confidence I had exude the night before and stared him down.  
  
"Whatever it is, you're not welcomed."  
  
I slammed the door in his face, pausing a moment to give the resounding slam a self-satisfied smirk. Then, I turned around, leaned myself against the cold wood and slunk to the floor. Courage could only bring a person so far.   
  
I paused.  
  
No sound.  
  
What had happened? Had he given up so easily? What was I expecting?  
  
Standing up mechanically, I stepped over all the garbage and got to the kitchen. Grabbing a can of beer, I opened it and proceeded to gulp it down in mouthfuls. After which I took a deep breath to abate my thumping heartbeat.  
  
"Didn't you know that drinking this early in the morning is bad for you?"  
  
Whipping my head around, I found myself staring into his deep piercing sea-blue eyes.  
  
"Wha-at??"   
  
I spluttered.  
  
"How did you get in here Frosty?"  
  
I threw the second question in his face in hopes that he wouldn't have noticed how flustered I truly was at his appearance.  
  
He narrowed his eyes, causing a shiver to run down my spine. His eyes always seem to do that to me. It didn't make me go cold the way it does to most people. Instead, it gives me a certain degree of warmth – and I didn't particularly like that feeling.  
  
"I'm not Frosty."  
  
"What do you want?? I told you! I don't know you, I can't remember you. I'm not that person!!"  
  
The can crushed under the force of my grip. I knew that I was acting irrationally and one part of me was telling me to calm down while the other just kept inciting my anger telling myself that I had the right to stand by my rights. Unfortunately, I didn't know that right it was that I was protecting.   
  
Taking in quick breaths, I steadied myself for the reply that was sure to come.  
  
"Why do you keep insisting that? YOU ARE HER!!"  
  
I backed away. I've never seen him this way before. Despite only knowing him for a short span of less than ten hours, I knew that such rage and act of him losing his cool was unheard of. Somehow, he seemed to be the epitome of calculating coolness. The very same coolness that he was losing right now.  
  
His breath came short and fast. Blood was rushing to his face, and his eyes... those eyes no longer full of ice or coldness but frustration and despair, hurt, pain... and what?  
  
I shook my head.  
  
I should be scared. Hell, I should be freaked! I mean, haven't I witnessed what he is capable of doing in fit of mere annoyance before?  
  
His blue chi, the kanji on his forehead... the pain and destruction he caused before. The robber who tried to rob me testified to that, and died for that. Just thinking about the amount of pain he can cause on a whim made me shiver instinctively.   
  
But why did I have this urge to go over and hold him in my arms? Why did I want to soothe him until the despair drains from his eyes?  
  
As if by reflex, I walked over to him, and held him in my arms, soothing his hair back.   
  
"I'm sorry, I know how much you must have loved her. It's just that I don't think that I'm her..."  
  
"You..."  
  
I cut him off before he could reply. I had to say it now before I lost the courage to say it, before I drown in his marine-turquoise orbs once more.  
  
"If you love her so much that you are willing to believe that someone else is her, she must be really special. But if she is that special, doesn't that make her irreplaceable?"  
  
He buried his head in the nook of my neck, murmuring her name over and over again, clutching me tighter with each word.   
  
Somehow, I felt a twinge of jealousy. I didn't know when it started, but I started wishing that I could be the one for him. -My heart, it is breaking, it's slowly falling into bits and pieces all around my feet... how am I ever going to pick it up again?- Perhaps that's possible? No, it can't be... I'm just giving myself into the sway of the moment. How could I fall in love with someone I just met?   
  
'Because time measures not the depth of love, but only the length of it...'  
  
That thought flitted through my mind as fast as it entered it. I banished it as quickly as well. It was not right. I could not do that to him. It was not fair.  
  
I stepped back.  
  
I won't let myself believe in this. I can't.  
  
Hurt flashed across his cold yet expressive eyes. Unknowingly, I had hurt him yet again. But when I realized the err of my ways, it was too late.   
  
"I shouldn't have done that..."  
  
I reached out to him, but he turned away, evidently more wounded than I had imagined.   
  
"I..."  
  
Still trying to make amends, I grabbed onto the sleeve of his shirt.  
  
"Could you... tell me more about her?"  
  
Author's Note: This is my first FY fic, so please be gentle ne? This is basically from the POV of one of the characters... guess who? It's AU, so naturally the Characters themselves would act OOC, but I'll try to keep it as intact as possible. Please review and let me know how I'm doing alright? Thanks! M(_)M 


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